Invalids confined to wheel chairs often have difficulty in moving from the wheelchair to other locations such as a bed, or toilet. People are needed to assist patients from the chairs. Often, the people responsible for the patients, especially in the home environment, have difficulty in assisting the patient from the wheelchair to the other locations. To assist in moving patients, several devices have been developed to lift and transport invalids from place to place, inlcuding wheelchairs. Examples of these devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,222,029 to Hildemann, 3,351,959 to Turpin, 4,125,908 to Vail et al. and 4,571,758 to Samuelsson. French Patent No. 2,414,909 to Jouk. These devices fall into two distinct categories. The French Patent and Hildemann are examples of frame type devices that are mounted on wheels. These devices can be moved and positioned next to the wheelchair or bed as needed and the patient can be lifted using a harness and the hoist mounted on the frame. Both of these devices are compact and will not lift the patient sufficiently off the ground. Also, once the patient is in the harness, the entire frame must be moved to wherever the patient is to be relocated. This compact device is uncomfortable and embarrassing for patients to use.
The Turpin, and Vail designs teach a movable hoist mounted on a ceiling, for example. The patient would be lifted in a harness and moved to the new location by following the track in the ceiling. These devices appear to operate better because they can position the patient in a more comfortable and less embarrassing position. The Samuelsson device takes the concept one step farther. The Samuelsson device has a cantilever arm that is mounted to a central pedestal. The arm has a track mounted hoist attached to it to pick up patients. The pedestal has a telescoping column that can raise and lower the arm as needed. Finally, unlike the fixed tracks of Turpin and Vail, the pedestal column is designed to rotate over a 360 degree radius. This device offers several advantages. However, its biggest drawback is that it is fixed in place. Thus, it can be installed in a physical therapy room for example, where it will be used often. It cannot be relocated for temporary service elsewhere, however.
All of these devices provide service in hospitals or other medical type locations. They are, however, cumbersome to use in the home environment. Also, when traveling, the devices must be packed and carried with the patient, which is inconvenient at best.